The Hebrew particle ki rendered For introduces an explanation on how God’s plans and actions differ from those of humans. Like Good News Translation, many versions omit it.

As the heavens are higher than the earth: This line is the first half of a comparison. It presents the self-evident truth that the sky is much higher than the earth. The heavens and the earth are an important pair of terms in Second Isaiah (see, for example, 51.6, 13, 16).

So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts: These two parallel lines are the second half of the comparison. God’s ways (actions) and thoughts (plans) are much higher than those of humans, just like the sky is higher than the earth. The verb are … higher is implied in the last line. But what sense does higher have in this context of God’s actions and thoughts? Does it mean better, more valuable, or more significant? Does it mean very different in kind? Perhaps all these senses are in view. Since the heavens are beyond the reach of human beings, these two lines may be saying God’s actions and thoughts are so lofty that they are beyond human understanding. Many exiles had doubts about God’s power to rescue them. Through the use of this comparison he intends to change their minds. Humans will never be able to understand how God can and will save them, because he is superior to them in many ways. In some languages the adjective higher may not be meaningful when applied to actions and thoughts. If possible, translators should find an expression that can serve equally well to describe the physical distance between the sky and the earth as well as the abstract distance between the actions and thoughts of two people. Perhaps “far above” is possible by rendering this verse as “Just as the sky is far above the earth, so are my ways and thoughts far above yours.” Bible en français courant (1997) uses the idea of “difference” and rearranges the text, saying “There is as much difference between my way of acting and yours, between what I think and what you think, as there is between the sky and the earth.” Some languages may find this a helpful model. Other possible models are:

• Just as the heavens are so much higher than the earth,
in the same way my actions are far superior to yours,
and my plans are far beyond your understanding.

• Just as the sky is so far above the earth,
so my power to act is so much greater than yours,
and my thoughts are so far beyond your understanding.

• The heavens are very far above the earth.
In the same way my actions are very far beyond yours,
and my plans are very far beyond yours also.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .